Local Politics
Annapolis Increases Taxes
UPDATE: We corrected the tax increase to 5.66%. The original 3% was a mis-read on our part. After a contentious meeting at City Hall on Monday, Annapolis Mayor, Joshua Cohen is now calling for significant tax increases and a reduction in spending in his proposed budget. Approximately 300 citizens attended Monday’s meeting wearing red shirts [...]
Annapolis Revises Budget
There will be a press conference this afternoon at 3pm at City Hall where Annapolis Mayor, Josh Cohen will announce revisions to the FY 2012 Operating Budget. It is expected that he will announce a significant tax increase and some cuts in spending to deal with the fiscal issues that surround the city. Please stay [...]
Annapolis City Manager Unaware Of $4 Million Of Debt
<–please share this post with your facebook friends and twitter followers by using the icons to the left! UPDATE 05:03pm May 20, 2011: City Hall just sent out a press release addressing this issue. It can be found at the bottom of this post. If the finances of Annapolis were not in bad enough shape [...]
Officials Urge Support Of Severna Park High
Last week, County Executive John R. Leopold was joined by elected officials in urging the County Council to supported proposed funding to build a new Severna Park High School. “The County has already begun the process of replacing this school, and any delay at this point could prove fatal to the prospect of beginning construction [...]
Ald. Arnett Holding Public Discussion On Annapolis Budget
The following announcement came from Delegate Herb McMillan regarding a presentation on Monday, May 16, 2011 by Annapolis City Alderman Ross Arnett. Arnett has been a fiscal watchdog for the upcoming budget and has been warning the Council and the mayor of the impending shortages when homes in the area are reassessed this year. The [...]
Rising Budget Explained
In response to the opinion post yesterday, Annapolis PIO, Phill McGowan has offered the following explanation of how the budget increased by 23%. Two of the big ticket items include: Changing the way the money is handled accounting for $8 million Employing an unknown number of city employees will cost an additional $4.5 million ($7500 [...]
Washington Expresses Interest In Market House
<–Please be sure to share this exclusive breaking news with your friends on facebook and followers on twitter by using the icons to the left. It was only a matter of time until the incessant wrangling and inept management of the Annapolis Market House caught the eye of Washington. Eye On Annapolis has learned from [...]
Cohen Appoints Two
The City of Annapolis has confirmed two recent Mayoral appointments. Both Michelle LeFurge and Eugene Peterson will be working in the Mayor’s office. We reported on Peterson’s hiring several weeks ago. Both LeFurge and Peterson were key members of the Zina Pierre campaign with LeFurge serving as Campaign Manager and Peterson serving as Treasurer. According [...]
More Accusations Against Leopold
<–Did you enjoy this article? Please share it with your facebook friends and twitter followers by using the icons to the left! The Capital reports today that the head of the firefighter’s union was contacted by an investigator from the State Prosecutor’s Office regarding Leopold. The allegations stem from a member of Leopold’s security detail [...]
Moody’s Gives Stern Warning To Annapolis
UPDATE: Updated information in [red] As was expected, Annapolis City took a hit when [two of] the three Bond Rating Agencies downgraded the ratings. This move will certainly have a negative effect the city’s cost to obtain financing through the bond market. The administration, including Mayor Cohen, City Manager Mallinoff, and Finance Director Miller have [...]
Leopold Signs Bill Into Law
While the County Council voted 7-0 to change the binding arbitration for employees with three amendments, County Executive John R. Leopold, vetoed the amendments. This effectively reverted the bill to it’s original form which he has just signed into law this afternoon, angered 4 members of the County Council and enraged the employee unions who [...]
New Appointment, New Study In Annapolis
A New Political Appointee We have learned that Eugene Peterson has recently been hired by Annapolis Mayor Joshua Cohen to serve in the Mayor’s office. According to City spokesman, Phill McGowan, Peterson “will focus on community and constituent service.” Peterson is a member of the Board of Education and was a key member of the [...]
Fitch Downgrades Annapolis’ Bond Rating
As was expected, one of the bond rating agencies, Fitch Ratings has downgraded Annapolis’ Bond Rating from AAA to AA+ and classified the new rating outlook as stable. The rationale behind the downgrade included: –The downgrade reflects the city’s diminished financial flexibility, as evidenced by declining reserves, a constrained liquidity position, and the current debt [...]
Annapolis Mayor Discusses Budget
Last night, Annapolis Mayor, Josh Cohen addressed a very sparse crowd at the Mt. Olive Community Life Center on the realities of the FY 2012 budget that he is intending to send to the City Council on March 14th. The City is not out of the financial woods yet as Cohen explained that City overspent [...]
Star Spangled Banner In Annapolis (PHOTOS)
Tonight, Eye On Annapolis had the rare opportunity to attend a special reception for the national anthem of the United States of America. The original manuscript of the Star Spangled Banner made it’s way to a private reception in the Miller Senate Office Building. A Dunbar Armored vehicle, a police escorted motorcade and Baltimore Mayor [...]
Mayor’s Budget Road Show
Mayor Joshua J. Cohen announces two public forums early next month where he will offer a budget preview ahead of his formal presentation of the fiscal year 2012 budget to the City Council on Monday, March 14. The Mayor, City Manager Michael Mallinoff and Budget Director Bruce Miller will host the discussions on March 1 [...]
A Market House Delay
We had good intentions to live tweet the special City Council meeting last night, but that did not happen. As it turns out, not much happened at City Hall either. Annapolis Mayor Joshua Cohen was supposed to introduce legislation on the zoning changes requested by Lehr Jackson for the newest iteration of the Market House. [...]
Leopold Sworn In For Second Term
Republican John R Leopold was sworn in this morning for his second term as County Executive for Anne Arundel County. The event was held at the Pasadena Senior Center. Leopold was able to hold off challenger Joanna Conti to retain his office for a second term. County Council members will be sworn in later this [...]
Snowden Headed Back To Court
It looks like the prosecutor in Carl Snowden’s drunk driving case is having a change of heart and the former Alderman for Annapolis will be headed back to court in January. Snowden was given a Probation Before Judgment sentence last month for his third DUI arrest in 8 years. He was convicted of one in [...]
Insight To Silverman’s Hiatus
A reader left the following comment on our post about Alderman Mat Silverman’s leave of absence: The story is exactly on the script that Mat told me and I reported a few months ago to Capital Punishment, which printed it in full. I met with Mat when the City Manager bill was coming up for [...]
Breaking: Ward 5 Alderman To Be MIA For 4 Months
Mathew Silverman, Alderman for Ward 5 will be absent for the next four months while he explores other career options. An opportunity has come up for Alderman Silverman to become a “federal law enforcement officer” which will require him being away from the City and his constituents from December through April and apparently the Mayor [...]
Annapolis Repays $10M Line Of Credit
Annapolis City hall has announced that they have rep[aid a controversial $10 million line of credit which was established to meet payroll and other obligations. While this appears to be good news on the surface, it does indicate that further lines of credit will need to be taken in the future. The release (below) also [...]
